Conventionally, a dimmer switch for operating headlights therewith in a vehicle such as four-wheel vehicle, is disposed on a long lever whose end is supported in the vicinity of a steering wheel. The dimmer switch includes at an end thereof a rotary portion disposed coaxially with a central axis of the lever, and the rotary portion is operated to turn on and off the headlight. Typically, switching between low beam and high beam is made by inclining or turning the lever within a predetermined movable range thereof around the supporting portion thereof. The structure of the dimmer switch operated in the above-described way is suitable for a combination dimmer switch where the switching between low beam and high beam as well as operations of a passing light, a turn indicator, and/or others are possible using a single lever. However, the thus constructed dimmer switch requires a special arrangement for reducing the overall size of the switch.
To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Application No. 231102/2002 discloses a lever switch operating apparatus for vehicles where a link arm including a driving arm and a driven arm is disposed between a lever and a sliding type switch that is slid by inclining or turning the lever, so as to reduce a difference in height between a supporting portion at which the lever is supported and the sliding type switch, thereby enabling to reduce the overall size of the switch.